In late February, after a series of intensive preparations, Yuzhou Daxing River Gong.

On the day of the official start of construction on February 22, a dense crowd lined up from the riverside to the bottom of the dam, all with piety written on their faces.

Before the river is built, the river must be sacrificed.

The Yellow River sacrifice began in the Xia and Shang dynasties, flourished in the Sui and Tang dynasties, and in the Great Zhou Dynasty, river disasters occurred frequently, and the official and folk reverence and worship of the river god became more and more profound.

Temples dedicated to the river god can be seen everywhere along the banks of the river, and the imperial court also knighted the river god and ordered the magistrate to sacrifice every year.

Yuzhou is naturally no exception.

At this moment, on the bank of the river thirty miles outside Mixian County, an old river worker is shirtless, wearing wicker rings on his head, holding incense sticks, and leading thousands of civilian servants, facing the river to worship Hebo with the most solemn prison ceremony.

Wei Chen didn't believe in ghosts and gods, but he always had a sense of awe for nature in his heart, so he didn't laugh at the ignorance and ignorance of these river workers, but stood not far away, quietly watching the scene in front of him.

After the completion of the river sacrifice ceremony, Wei Chen came to the river, performed the foundation laying ceremony with the river workers, and called everyone to give a lecture.

Wei Chen experienced too much of this series of formalities during the scientific expedition, and he was often dissatisfied with it at that time, thinking that these were meaningless red tape.

But looking back today, there are some completely different views from before.

Only by being cautious can we end respectfully.

Before doing great things, a solemn sense of ritual must be created through a series of forms, so that people can take the matter seriously from the bottom of their hearts.

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When Zhizhou Weichen shoveled a shovel of soil into the trolley, the crowd suddenly burst into cheers and applause, and all the river workers picked up their tools and walked up to the embankment according to the prior arrangement, picked up their arms and worked hard.

So far, the "Yuzhou River Defense Reconstruction Project" that has been blessed for seven years has finally officially started in a loud trumpet.

Wei Chen took Zhao Ceying, Gu Tingye and others, as well as a group of Mi County officials, to inspect the river beach.

Looking out from the vast river beach, you can see thousands of shirtless men working on the embankment, and the sun shines on their bronzed skin, revealing a masculine beauty, and the scene is spectacular.

And not far from Wei Chen, eight men were gathering around to "walk together".

The so-called kiln is usually a large round stone or iron cake-like object, weighing tens of catties to more than 100 catties, and several ropes are tied around it.

It is a form of ramming, which is widely used in the middle and lower reaches of the Yellow River, and is mainly used to lay the foundation when building embankments and dams.

The principle is that everyone works together to lift the stone off the ground, rise to a certain height and then put it down, and use the gravity of the stone itself and the traction of people to land smoothly and tamp the virtual soil.

The line pays attention to a unity and cooperation, and the cooperation between each other is extremely important, which is the key to whether the kiln can play well, because every time before the line, there is a lead singer to sing slowly and command, and everyone follows the number.

Wei Chen grew up in the south of the Yangtze River since he was a child, and it was the first time he saw the scene of singing trumpets on the banks of the Yellow River.

I saw that the eight men surrounding the stone kiln each bent over their backs, holding the rope tightly with both hands, and then the trumpet leader in charge of the singing opened his mouth and sang loudly: "A building on a high mountain!" The three sisters comb their hair better! ”

The crowd sang in unison: "Roar! ”

While singing, they threw the stone into the air for a moment, and then smashed it into the rammed earth, making a loud bang and shaking up a cloud of dust.

"The eldest combs a dragon beard, and the second combs a dancing phoenix!"

"Hey!"

"The rest of the junior has no comb, comb a lion and roll hydrangea!

"Hey!"

"The hydrangea rolls to the East China Sea and blocks the Yellow River from flowing!"

"Hey!"

……

The trumpet is sometimes heroic, sometimes witty, sometimes solemn, sometimes lively, eight men bare-chested and bare-backed, green muscles burst out, shouting shocking, moving.

The sonorous and powerful horn of the kiln worker accompanied by the smoke and dust all over the ground, together with the rolling Yellow River water, slowly drifted to the sky.

Every time Shi Qi landed, Wei Chen, who stopped to watch from the side, felt that his heart was also shocked, and it was difficult to calm down for a long time.

How difficult it is to prosper the country, and to enlighten the saints.

The flooding of the Yellow River has brought untold suffering to the people on both sides of the river, but the suffering has not defeated them, but has forged their soul character of happiness and perseverance.

Wei Chen looked at this group of workers with smiles on their faces, and his admiration for them came from the bottom of his heart, and he strengthened his belief in repairing this embankment for the people of Yuzhou.

It's just that although the river defense looks simple, it is actually very professional inside, don't look at Wei Chen's endless talk about the strategy of river control, but in fact, it is to put forward a big strategic policy, really go to the embankment to operate on the ground, Wei Chen must be a black eye.

Therefore, Wei Chen had already delegated power and handed over all the work of repairing the embankment to those experienced old river workers.

As for the focus of Wei Chen's own work, it is to do a good job of logistics for these thousands of civilian servants to ensure that all kinds of material resources are continuously transported to the embankment construction site.

After inspecting the river beach where the sound of soil was everywhere, the sun was already hanging high, Wei Chen turned around and asked Sun Zhuo, the magistrate of Mi County: "Are the river workers ready for lunch at noon?" ”

The construction of the embankment and dam requires heavy physical work, which is even more arduous than plowing the land and cultivating the land, and it is not enough to eat.

Therefore, Wei Chen had already ordered that the meals of the Xiuhe civil servants should be provided according to the standard of three meals a day.

In the homes of ordinary people in the Great Zhou Dynasty, there are generally two meals a day, and Weichen provides three meals a day for the civil servants who repair the embankment, which is already the conscience of the industry, so many landless households are vying to sign up to repair the river when they hear the news.

In order to ensure that the civil servants have the strength to work, a lot of money has been allocated in the treasury of the state government, but I don't know how the food taken out by the officials here in Mi County is in good condition, and Wei Chen is also very concerned about this.

Hearing Wei Chen's question, Sun Zhuo replied tremblingly: "Lord Hui, I have already prepared it." One steamed bun with black noodles and two scones with black noodles per person. ”

Wei Chen nodded when he heard this.

The so-called black flour is rough processed grain, and the taste is of course far inferior to white flour, but as long as it can be supplied in sufficient quantities, it is already better than the daily food of most people.

By this time, dozens of peasant women had already arrived on the river beach carrying heavy baskets, which were filled with steamed buns and scones piled up like a hill.

Wei Chen walked up to a peasant woman, took out a piece of scone from the basket beside her, broke off a small piece and stuffed it into his mouth.

The ingredients for this scone are indeed solid, but they are as hard as stones, dry and astringent, making it difficult to swallow, and Wei Chen couldn't help frowning after only eating a small piece.

Catching a glimpse of the wooden barrel containing the soup next to it, he immediately picked up a horse spoon and scooped himself a bowl of hot soup, put the scones in the soup to soak until they were soft, and after chewing, they savored it, and there was a hint of sweetness belonging to the grain.

Under the surprised gaze of the surrounding officials and subordinates, Wei Chen ate a steamed bun and two scones little by little with the soup, which was exactly what Sun Zhuo said about a civilian servant's lunch share.

At the end, Wei Chen patted his bulging belly, nodded with satisfaction, and turned to Sun Zhuo and said, "In the future, the food on the embankment will be sent exactly the same to the official." Remember, it's exactly the same. ”

Sun Zhuo couldn't help but jump in his heart when he looked at Shang Weichen's deep gaze, and hurriedly bowed down to receive the order and said, "Xia Guan understands." ”